What to write in the strengths column. Weaknesses and strengths in a resume

Human. You can hear about this in any psychological program or read in books. Everyone should know their strengths and weaknesses. This will help you adapt to life more easily and choose the right job. How can you figure out which of them are weak and which are strong? Many internal questions can be answered if you clearly understand what it consists of both positive and negative ones. negative aspects. Trying to find a person without flaws is a waste of time and effort.

The question of strengths is constantly addressed in interviews. This technique is considered to be the main one psychological methods, which HR managers prefer to use. Of course, experienced recruiters are less and less eager to identify strengths person, since applicants most often use memorized templates or write those that they do not own. We try to indicate as few weaknesses as possible or not write them at all. The same applies to representatives of the stronger sex. The best in society's understanding are not always the best, but guys continue to follow the pattern that was instilled in them.

The difficulty when analyzing your own personality is that no one will help you with this. If your parents monitored the development of your talents in childhood (they took you to various sections and clubs, monitored your perseverance), then the time has come to begin the most difficult work on yourself.

How to highlight your strong qualities?

Take a closer look at your talents. A person's strengths always manifest themselves through what they do. If others listen to your opinion, it means that your strength is psychology. There are no equals in the kitchen, and any recipe turns into a masterpiece. Cooking is our forte. You have a beautiful voice - singing. Finding a strong side is not so difficult.

You need to constantly develop and give yourself enough time to reveal yourself to the proper extent. The examples listed are manifestations of the creative side of a person, but talents can also be more practical. For example, you are great at negotiating with people, which means your strong point is communication skills.

Questioning your environment - the path to self-knowledge

Another way to identify a person’s strengths is to interview friends, both old and new. They will be able to tell you a lot of interesting things, and their opinion will definitely agree in some way with your own. As a last resort, you can turn to a variety of psychological tests, the compilers of which have calculated and thought through everything.

Watch what you say in an interview

When you find yourself at an interview for a manager's job, you shouldn't say that you cook or sing well. These are not the strengths of a person that a leader wants to hear about. It is necessary to decompose character into components. Having, for example, culinary talent, a person becomes disciplined and responsible, since he needs to devote enough time to preparing a dish and searching for new unexpected flavor combinations.

It takes great imagination to create a new gourmet dish. A person's strengths for the questionnaire are the ability to plan, reliability, hard work, flexibility, analytical skills, and the ability to make quick decisions in a difficult situation. These are the ones worth paying attention to professional activity. Do you like writing short essays? Then you should take up journalism or copywriting. Good qualities in a person help him adapt socially and become successful.

What about weak traits?

Along with strengths, every person also has weaknesses. Moreover, denial of their presence is an indicator of an unformed personality. Do not think that in this way you are admitting your weaknesses. Such reasoning often leads to a halt in development. The ability to recognize and analyze bad qualities leads to internal balance.

How to deal with the negative in yourself?

Completely get rid of negative traits impossible, but it is within your power to make them less significant. If you're constantly late, you know that common time management tips don't always help.

A possible solution is to arrange business meetings in the office in the middle of the working day, then you will always “be on time”. But this doesn’t always help: you will still be late for the train or the airport. If you are unable to properly plan your workflow, then it may be worth considering the sequence of your actions and planned events. It is more convenient to put all complex and significant tasks at the beginning of the working day, and take on other tasks at the end: even if you fail to meet the deadlines, it will not be worse. A good option There will be an expansion of the staff of subordinates who will be able to do some work for you and will help shift some of the responsibilities to them. By joint forces It’s easy for teams to complete all tasks on time.

Fear of the public is not a death sentence!

Let's give another example of the most common problem for many - the inability to speak in public. Both very young employees and managers experienced in presentations face this problem. Working with professional psychologist and constant training. If you are a night owl chronotype, you won’t be able to work fully in the morning; it would be more logical to move all important matters to the afternoon. In this case, your weaknesses will not interfere with your full-fledged activities, and you will be able to realize what is called an “ideal personality” in psychology. The personality structure will be balanced and will not complicate life.

How to cope with an interview?

Any person can expect to be a candidate for the proposed position. How to properly prepare for answers? First you need to consider your qualities on the following points:

  • skills acquired during the development of knowledge;
  • general skills that will be useful in any job;
  • unique character traits.

From this list, select three to five that are most suitable for the available vacancy. It is also advisable to select those qualities in which you are confident and can prove them in practice. Then you do the same thing, only with negative qualities.

Women sometimes find it useful to choose from a large list the best qualities of a man that their spouse has. If this is not easy to do, remember what virtues he had and why you fell in love with him.

Is it worth talking about weaknesses when applying for a job?

Any employer will definitely ask you during an interview about your weaknesses. Many applicants ask questions: is it necessary to talk about them at all? How much is considered sufficient? Could their mention negatively affect the manager's opinion and interview results? An experienced recruiter understands that any person must have shortcomings, and if you are not able to highlight them, then an empty line in the application form will definitely alert him.

It's best not to show your excitement. It would be useful to indicate what methods you use to eliminate your weaknesses. The company you are joining must be informed and prepared for the nuances of the character of its employee. The main thing in any interview is how calmly and confidently you are able to talk about your strengths and weaknesses. Such behavior will not go unnoticed; you will be assessed as a mature person and a full-fledged person. A person’s strong qualities should not be put on public display, as this may seem bravado and insincerity.

In my work, I often had to interview candidates for the position of Sales Manager. A corporate application form typically asks candidates to answer questions about their strengths and weaknesses. It is striking and surprising that the majority of people write unsubscribes. Almost no one has any weaknesses, but strengths written, as if, as a carbon copy.

One lady, answering a question about her weaknesses, wrote the following phrase: “I have no weaknesses. I got rid of them a long time ago.” I wonder what she thinks she will do next, if not developing and strengthening her various abilities? After all weak sides- is not bad habits, which need to be gotten rid of, and what needs to be constant attention and development.

Or a situation that I see all the time: people only know how to go to work. Someone else knows how to relax, someone combines vacation with work in the country, and other little things. But no one dares to look into themselves, their beloved...

Think back to yourself as a child, or remember the time when your children were little. You know from your own experience that parents try their best to send their child to different schools (dance, sports, music, art, etc.) in order to determine what their child is passionate about. Where he can show his talents more.

But as adults, we happily forget about this and surrender to the flow of life. Wherever it takes us, we will swim there. Some people still become successful in some activity, perhaps due to luck or a favorable combination of circumstances, but the majority never think about realizing their abilities, and accordingly, they do not achieve anything in their own lives.

This also happens because many people could not find their business, and did not even try to find it. In his book “Golden Lessons: Achieving Your Goals,” John Maxwell described the story of how he once looked into a store that sold all sorts of things. And his attention was attracted by the sign hanging at the entrance: “Here you will find absolutely everything. If you can."

You probably know that the same can be said about any of us. Those unique abilities that we are given need to be looked for very carefully. Perhaps they are hidden very deep.

Strengths. What is this?

Our strengths are based on talent. Talent is the ability to do something better than something else. For example, you sing better than you knit. Or you play football better than you draw. When we develop our talents through knowledge and skills, we turn talents into strengths. Strengths are the ability to show high results in a specific activity. The next step is to polish your strengths to the level of mastery. This is why you need to devote great attention their development and the development of their children.

Scientists have identified a list of human strengths:

  1. Adaptability (changing yourself depending on requirements environment, adaptation, flexibility).
  2. Activation (energy to get down to business and do it).
  3. Analytical thinking (understanding causes and consequences, critical thinking).
  4. Faith (the presence of deeply rooted values, ideas, the search for the meaning of life).
  5. Inclusion (helping others become whole and successful).
  6. Imagination (creativity, originality, new ideas and concepts).
  7. Harmony (ability to find common ground, avoid conflicts).
  8. Discipline (organization, ability to meet time, order and structure).
  9. Achievement (pursuit of goals, productivity, satisfaction with what has been achieved).
  10. Significance (great desire for recognition, hard work).
  11. Individualization (perception of other people as individuals and recognition of their talents, attention to differences).
  12. Intelligence (ability to think in many directions, intellectual discussions, decisions).
  13. Information (active acquisition of knowledge, curiosity).
  14. Correction (recognizing problems and being able to solve them).
  15. Communication (explanation, clarification, ability to speak well).
  16. Competition (hard work to achieve high results, success, desire to win, comparison with others).
  17. Context (see historical parallels, objectively assess what is happening).
  18. Maximalism (increasing personal and group skill levels).
  19. Learning (enjoying the learning process, focusing on improvement).
  20. Future orientation (focus on the future, the ability to see opportunities, encouraging others to act).
  21. Responsibility (being someone you can rely on, many responsibilities and obligations).
  22. Relationships (establishing close relationships with people)
  23. Positivity (enthusiasm, optimism, excitement, stimulating others).
  24. Consistency (equal treatment, fairness, concern with issues of good and evil).
  25. Development (see potential in others and help them develop it).
  26. Discretion (acceptance right decisions, thoroughness, consideration of all options).
  27. Leadership (ability to cope with conflicts and crises, ability to bear responsibility).
  28. Self-affirmation (self-confidence, independent thinking).
  29. Coherence (connecting ideas or events into a meaningful whole).
  30. Strategy (seeing the pros and cons, understanding the situation as a whole, developing an adequate action plan).
  31. Focus (prioritization, direction, efficiency).
  32. Ability to win favor (quickly establish contact with people, create groups/relationships).
  33. Arranging (organizing, coordinating, defining the right combination people and funds).
  34. Empathy (understanding others, establishing supportive relationships).

And all you need to do is try to find out as much as possible what strengths our personality corresponds to.

Then you need to understand what jobs and activities these strengths correspond to. That is, in which area they could reveal themselves stronger and brighter.

If the task turns out to be difficult, try rating the strengths that best suit you on a 10-point scale. Thus, you will be able to identify those in which the combination of talents, knowledge, skills and abilities is most harmonious.

But that is not all. Now ask a few questions about each of them:

  • Is this really mine?
  • Do I enjoy doing this?
  • Where and in what ways can I apply them?
  • What will I have to do to develop the necessary qualities in myself?
  • How will this bring me income?

Now you will have those strengths that you either want or do not want to use and develop. Not a bad trick? And what really matters is that it works. Introduce this method to your loved ones, perhaps it will help them paint their lives in brighter colors.

If one of you is already in the process of identifying your strengths, that is, actively acting and learning to manage your life independently, it will also be effective for you to use this technique, which, by the way, can be used in many situations.

Let’s take the topic of website building as an example. Among my colleagues, webmasters, there are mainly people who do this not under compulsion, but at the same time experiencing the joy and pleasure of doing an interesting and favorite thing. But even in this case, each of us shows exactly those strengths in which he feels much more comfortable.

As you know, a webmaster combines various professions: designer, writer, SEO specialist (promotion), programmer, layout designer. In a word, a jack of all trades. Of course, it is difficult to have so many talents at once to be successful in all directions at once. And over time, each of us finds the area in which he feels at ease, then there is a desire to become a professional, and then an expert, the level of which allows him to train other people. But this, of course, requires a lot of effort.

P.S. By the way, if you dream of becoming a professional designer, then you can learn this at the Yulia Pervushina School of Design. Even if you are not a designer at all and don’t know how to draw, but you have a great desire to get a highly paid Internet profession, you can sign up here:

For example, I am more attracted to the field of copywriting than programming, although, I admit, you still need to know the basics of programming for blogging. But let it remain mine weak side. I'd rather enhance my talents. By the way, about my colleagues: we are united by the most important thing - we are doing an interesting and favorite thing, which allows us to discover new abilities, talents, and turn them into strengths.

The character of any person consists of strengths and weaknesses. Strong character traits help us move forward, solve problems, plan and achieve our plans. A person with strength compares favorably with his environment, he is energetic and achieves great heights in life.

Personal qualities: strengths

A person's character strengths can be developed to varying degrees. But it is important that together they give a character capable of overcoming difficulties that arise, improving, and moving forward.

The list of human strengths includes the following:

  1. Determination– ability to set goals and achieve them.
  2. Perseverance- the ability to follow a clearly defined plan, overcome all the difficulties that arise and not change direction.
  3. Strength of will. A strong-willed person bases his life not on his desires, but on necessity. The habit of doing what is important, and not what you want, helps not only in activities, but also in relationships with people. People with good willpower are restrained and know how to control their emotions and behavior.
  4. Self confidence– quality, which is a mandatory component. A person who believes in himself and his strength will perceive any situation as an opportunity to take a step forward. Confident people are less likely to experience depression and loneliness. They are more proactive and are not afraid to take risks. Such people attract other people to themselves, so they are often good leaders and leaders.
  5. Communication skills. Ability to communicate with by different people is a good help in life and professional activities. A sociable person can not only find an approach to different people, but can also persuade people to accept his point of view.
  6. Optimism. A positive outlook on life is a good basis for developing strong character. An optimistic person sees in any situation a life lesson for which he is grateful to fate. It is pleasant to communicate with such people, because their positive charge extends to the people around them.

Professional strengths

When hiring, every employer strives to find out the employee’s strengths. To do this, he can offer the applicant a questionnaire, tests, or try to understand the character from the interview. Most often, the employer wants to see such human strengths in a new specialist.

Any resume is created in order to tell the employer about the applicant for the position. Each person, with its help, wants to distinguish himself from other candidates. In order to show oneself not just as an employee, but also as a person, the personal qualities inherent in each person are indicated. In any resume there is a paragraph in which you need to indicate the best qualities that you possess. Different qualities are suitable for each profession; moreover, it is not always worth specifying a standard set of phrases.

Below you can find out how to correctly show the strengths and weaknesses of your character, and also look at those examples of personal qualities in your resume that are worth indicating.

Everyone knows that for each profession a person must have certain qualities, skills and internal installations. So, for a leader it is important to be able to be responsible and to be able to manage a large team, for a doctor - collected and persistent, for a manager - sociable. Therefore, it is not worth indicating all the qualities in a row.

a) Let's start with a person who is only first once gets a job. Even if he has all the skills listed in his resume, the employer cannot know this. Such a candidate must indicate that he has:

  1. Desire to learn and improve;
  2. Ability to adapt;
  3. Desire to learn;
  4. Activity;
  5. Extraordinary and creativity to work;
  6. Willingness to work in a team;

b) A person who already has work experience and is applying for a position head, it is worth indicating:

  1. Ability to lead and work in a team;
  2. Communication skills;
  3. Responsibility;
  4. Stress resistance;
  5. Ability to work and make decisions quickly;
  6. Persistence;
  7. Observation;
  1. Perseverance;
  2. Ability to learn quickly and easily;
  3. Attention to detail and when working with documents;
  4. Decency;
  5. Loyalty;
  6. Punctuality;
  1. Communication skills;
  2. Broad horizons;
  3. Ability to communicate with people;
  4. Initiative
  5. Hard work
  1. Literacy;
  2. Sense of justice;
  3. Perseverance;
  4. Ability to communicate;
  5. Ability to work with people;
  6. Stress resistance;

Very often, during the interview, employers ask you to clearly demonstrate all the qualities that you indicated in your resume. Therefore, you should write only truthful information in this paragraph, as in your entire resume! IN modern world technology, it is not difficult to check whether information about a person is true.

In this paragraph you should always indicate 4 main categories: a) work, b) thinking, c) relationships with people, d) character.

a) The first point includes such qualities as: determination, responsibility, high performance, etc.

c) Relationships with people include communication skills, teamwork, politeness, etc.

d) Your character traits: attentiveness, punctuality, activity, etc.

There is also a standard list of qualities that can be specified in addition to the inherent professional qualities:

  1. Activity;
  2. Friendliness;
  3. Responsibility;
  4. Accuracy;
  5. Discipline;
  6. Performance;
  7. No conflict;
  8. Hard work;
  9. Decency;
  10. Resourcefulness;

At this point you don’t need to write too much; one, maximum two lines will be enough. And also clearly understand what exactly you are writing, because many will have approximately similar qualities. Statistics of the words that are indicated most often:

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Often, in addition to your strengths, the employer asks you to indicate your weaknesses. Under no circumstances should this requirement or an empty paragraph in the resume be ignored. There are some “flaws” that can be played up as some kind of advantages, here are those character weaknesses in a resume, examples:

  1. Pedantry (Although there are exceptions. In some professions, strict adherence to the rules is not always encouraged, for example in professions related to creativity);
  2. Modesty;
  3. Strong sense of responsibility;
  4. Scrupulousness and perfectionism;
  5. Activity (Of course, for those professions where perseverance is not required: not for a lawyer, accountant, etc.)
  6. Lack of work experience or education in the field. (This step is risky, but true, and then you should definitely indicate in the merits that you are ready to learn, etc.).

Topics of the material

When a person reaches a certain age in his life, he begins to think about a working career. For the purpose of earning money, self-improvement, establishment in society, or at least for a future pension. To do this, he needs to introduce himself.

Previously, this form of self-presentation was called autobiography. In modern interpretation, the fashionable word is “resume”. Both an autobiography and a resume are a written statement of one’s biographical data, level of education, clarification of professional skills, review of personal achievements and character traits. The main thing is to keep it short and to the point.

The resume should be written in such a way that the personnel officer becomes interested and invites you for an interview. Therefore, the document reflects in detail biographical facts that are directly related to the position for which the candidate is applying. To receive an invitation to a personal interview, you need to highlight your strengths in your portfolio.

Psychologists distinguish 4 groups of character traits: attitude towards other people; to work; to yourself and to things. Divide personal qualities into positive and negative. The employer wants to see the applicant as a good, productive employee who knows how to work in a team. Therefore, you need to emphasize your positive sides.

Professional strengths: attitude to work

  • Hard work is the desire and desire to work. Career success depends on this. In your resume, reflect your willingness to spend as much time on the job as it takes to achieve results.
  • Organization is the ability to properly organize your work day, distribute energy and time for the greatest efficiency at work. This side of your character will show that you will spend less time on completing a task and get a better result.
  • Responsibility is an important factor that must be reflected in the resume. In your portfolio, reflect your readiness to take responsibility for the situation at the right time.

Here you can also indicate such qualities as accuracy during work, initiative, conscientiousness, emphasize high learning ability and willingness to grow intellectually and professionally.

Relationships with other people as a character strength

Indicate in the questionnaire that you are sociable and responsive. Ready to communicate and establish connections and contacts with new colleagues. Another important quality today is tolerance, that is, tolerance for differences among people, the ability to perceive the rights and freedoms of other members of the team.

Tolerance is considered one of the human virtues. This behavior helps to avoid conflict situations(those happen).

Let's not forget about subordination. No one wants to waste time and persuade you to complete a task or behave correctly in a team. There is a task - you need to complete it.

Attitude towards yourself

When preparing your resume, please indicate your personal positive features, such as: determination, perseverance, willpower. All these character traits help a person to highlight the main thing, set a goal and be consistent in achieving it.

Show that you are confident in yourself. This is the quality of a leader that helps to perceive every task, every obstacle, as another step up towards the goal.

A person’s ability to see the positive in any situation, learn from failures and move on is optimism that will help the company’s team in difficult times.

Attitude to things

Neatness and accuracy in handling things is always highly valued. When a person indicates such qualities in a document, it is as if he is telling the employer that he will treat the organization’s property with care, protect and preserve material values.

There are many positive aspects of any person’s character. It is necessary to highlight in the resume those that will help the applicant in the work for the position for which he is applying. Those skills, abilities and qualities that a person especially emphasized may attract the attention of the employer. They will help you get through probation and secure a position.

Character Weaknesses on a Resume

In addition to a strong personality, any personality also has weak side. You shouldn’t include it in your resume, but let’s note for ourselves:

In relation to work, the following traits are negative:

  • laziness - lack of desire to work, free pastime unencumbered by responsibilities;
  • dishonesty - carelessness and negligence in performing assigned tasks, and often the inability to set a goal and unwillingness to achieve it;
  • passivity is a person’s indifference to everything that happens. A passive worker does not offer anything new necessary to achieve the goal; he mechanically performs routine work, is inactive and indifferent.

Negative aspects about yourself

Negative qualities that characterize a person in relation to himself are unpleasant to others, unacceptable in the work team and do not allow him to move forward. career ladder. Let's name some of them:

  • Conceit is a persistent confidence in one’s exclusivity, unsupported by anything, a desire to prove one’s worth to everyone. Conceit is a type of aggression directed at others in order to suppress the opinions of others.
  • Vanity is the desire to look good in the eyes of others, dependence on outside opinions, the desire to achieve approval in any way. Over time, people around such a person begin to understand that you will not achieve anything from a vain colleague except words.
  • Resentment is a person’s ability to perceive even the smallest insult as a global tragedy, to experience the insult very strongly, making a mountain out of a mountain. A resentful person does not dwell on his own grievance.

Some personality traits are seemingly neutral: neither good nor bad. It’s just that in some professions they are necessary, but in others they are categorically unacceptable.

Ambiguous character traits include, for example:

  • Individualism is the desire to exist independently, living in complete harmony with myself. For such people, remote work is ideal. Staying in comfortable conditions for yourself, so to speak, without leaving your cozy corner, a person gains financial independence, the opportunity to self-realize, and develop as a person.
  • Pedantry – extreme precision and accuracy in performing assigned tasks, strict adherence to all requirements and rules. A pedantic person is serious and thorough in carrying out any work. An accountant with this quality is an ideal employee for any organization (all documentation will be in order).
  • Scrupulousness is a character trait that manifests itself in the desire and ability to perform any work carefully, down to the smallest detail. Such an employee will approach any task thoroughly, will be attentive to the smallest details and will show extreme precision. This trait is also useful for accountants or auditors.
  • Modesty, of course, adorns a person. The ability to always remain restrained and calm, to be moderate and to keep oneself within limits is an important personality quality. But it’s hardly suitable for a theater actor.

Sensitivity and empathy are essential to working in health, education and social protection, creativity and imagination - in creative professions, strength of character, discipline and exactingness - for working in a leadership position. If a person is going to take a managerial position, it is necessary to emphasize his leadership skills, if a courier - mobility and endurance.

Representatives security forces– in addition to physical endurance, qualities such as attentiveness and the ability to quickly analyze the situation and make decisions are required. In any case, when applying for a vacancy, the applicant must have at least an approximate idea of ​​what kind of work it is, what job responsibilities will be assigned to him, and which of his character traits will help in his work. Therefore, in your resume you need to indicate exactly that side of your personality that will attract the employer, set you apart from the crowd of other applicants, and show that you, and no one else, are worthy of the job.

When compiling your portfolio, be careful not to make spelling mistakes. It is good if a photograph is attached to the document. Samples correct spelling resumes can always be found on the Internet. You can also use templates there by adding your personal data. A properly written resume is the first step on the career ladder.